As We Were
by kaida-amarante
Summary: Antonio is in love with the British kid down the street. Read their dramatic story here. SpUk, possibly one-sided. Possibly a one-shot. Human AU. Crappy summary. Probably not one of my best...


**AN: My first SpUk fic, so please go easy on me! Well, I just randomly started writing and this is what came out. I hope it's good then…Anyway, it's not a songfic, but I use lyrics from the song 'The Approaching Curve' by Rise Against, so I need to credit that. This is OOC but oh well…**

Time and time again I wonder to myself why I stay here in this dreary little town on the outskirts of nowhere. And time and time again I answer myself with one single word. Love. That is the reason I stay in the middle of nowhere when I should be out in the world chasing my dreams and living life to its fullest extent. You see, there's this guy that lives down the street from me. He's lived here only for a few years, which is strange for this town. Most of us were born and raised her, as were many generations of our family, so for someone to move here is a very strange occurrence. I don't really know why his family moved here, but from what I've been told, there were some problems with his father, so his mother took him and moved here, where her cousin lives. But I think I know what happened. At least, judging by that story and the scars and bruises all over his body. And the way he flinches when he thinks someone's going to hurt him. My guess is that his mother moved him away from his father in England here to a small town in Spain because he was abused. Badly.

It all started 6 years ago, when we were ten. I had been outside playing with the kids I had known since birth when a strange car pulled up to my mother's best friend's house down the road. We all stopped what we were to doing to watch as he stepped out of the car, blonde hair shining brightly in the bright sunlight. Blonde hair, pale skin, big eyebrows, emerald green eyes that mirrored mine…he looked nothing like the other kids. So we all became mesmerized by him. Since he lived with my mother's best friend, the two of us hung out a lot. We never really got along. But one night when we were 11, I had to stay over at his place while my mom went to go visit family. That was the night I saw his injuries. I asked him what happened, but he became silent and went to bed. It was a couple years after that, when we were 13, that I saw him getting bullied by some kids from out of town. At first I thought I'd do nothing, since we had another fight that day but then I saw one guy grab him around the neck and raise his fist. It was the flinch and the horror in those emerald eyes that propelled me to run forward and tackle the guy. Five against one isn't exactly even, so I didn't walk away uninjured. But they walked away a lot worse off. Things became a bit more awkward and tense between us after that, but otherwise stayed exactly the same.

Now we were 16 and I had finally realized that I liked the boy down the street. That's right. I, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, am in love with my neighbor, Arthur Kirkland. So when one day I saw him cornered by the bullies from before, I had to act. I couldn't just stand back. Instead I stormed up to them, grabbing Arthur and pulling him close to my side, glaring at the bullies. They smirked, glaring at us. "Aww, he had to get his boyfriend to come save him." I tightened my grip around Arthur's waist as he blushed and started yelling at them that I wasn't his boyfriend. I glared at them even as they raised their fists. And even as I blacked out, I knew it was okay. I had protected Arthur after all, right? So it was okay. But then I opened my eyes. He was lying nearby, beaten and battered, his breaths coming as pants. I stood and ran to him, staring down into the emerald eyes that held so much darkness and pain. He stared back at me as a tear formed in the pit of his eye. I helped him stand, only to realize he couldn't walk on his own, so I slung his arm over my shoulder and held onto him for dear life as we walked to his house. When we got there, his mother screamed out his name and ran forward, rushing him into the house and giving him first aid. As he slept, I stayed by his bedside, comforting him when he would have a nightmare, which was quite frequent.

"He was abused as a child. Physically as well as mentally and sexually. I'll save you the details, but I will tell you that I didn't know the full extent until he was 10." His mother's face was stained with dried tears. "So I moved to where I knew he'd be safe. Or at least, where I thought he'd be safe."

"He is. He's safe here. I just made a mistake today, but that won't happen again. I won't let something like this happen again." I looked up to see Mrs. Kirkland's big brown eyes wide with shock. "I won't let anyone else hurt him." How could I so easily say such things? Was I really that in love with him? I smiled my usual sunny smile up at the woman, making her smile softly in return. "I promise."

It was a promise I had planned to keep. Key word being 'planned'. After that incident he became completely reckless, going out and getting drunk, starting fights…Coming home every night with new injuries…I don't think anyone knew what caused him to change so drastically, but what really mattered was that this wasn't Arthur, not my Arthur anyway. But the part that was worst, to me at least, was his reaction when I asked him why he was doing this. He told me to leave him alone, a comment which ended with us fighting, making him storm off and end up in the hospital. Arthur had gotten in a really bad fight, one that he probably knew he couldn't have won. A fight that ended with him getting shot and stabbed. I stood at his bedside next to his mother, who was hiding her gaunt face in her hands as she sobbed. "How could you do this to us, Arthur?" My mother and her best friend stood in the doorway, watching as I studied his face, so calm in his slumber. Before, I hadn't noticed the way his cheeks were starting to sink in slightly, the dark circles under his eyes, or the way his skin looked so different from normal. "Why would you do this? Haven't we been through enough? Haven't you been through enough!" I felt my hands tighten into fists at Mrs. Kirkland's words, as her red hair fell into her face, covering the tears falling. It was then that the emerald eyes opened, staring up at me for a second before glaring. I stared for a moment before giving him that sunshine smile of mine, feeling a warmth in my chest as his glare turned back into a simple stare and he looked away. No words were spoken. Soon he began cleaning up his act again.

So that's how we got here, me and Arthur lying in his living room, staring at the ceiling, to afraid to speak the words that are hanging in the air between us. The words we had needed to say to each other for years now. About how we truly felt. Well, I suppose I'll just go with the flow and see where this goes.

_As we were, so perfect, so happy. Don't remember only your smiles, cuz that's all they've seen. Long since dried, when we are found, all the tears in which we had drowned. As we were, so perfect, so happy…_


End file.
